Well, uh, WordPress could have lost a blogger on Tuesday night. About a half mile from our house, my truck bottomed out on a three foot drift that covered our road. We were stranded for over two hours until a neighbor pulled us out.

To give you an idea how cold it was, we were stuck in front of a neighbor’s house but we couldn’t find his driveway in the blowing snow and kept sinking into waist deep snow in the ditch, trying to reach it. He eventually came out with a flashlight and led the way. Though I wore a warm stocking cap, my earlobes froze solid walking a 100 yards to the house.

We both got mild frost bite. It feels like sunburn.

I know, I know, I have ultra heavy-duty winter gear and thought about tossing it into the truck – just in case, but we were going to a social occasion and thought we would be home well before it got dark and the blizzard set in.

Two people lost their lives that night. Fortunately, it was not us – and for that we have to thank our neighbors.

Wow, Greg. I’m so glad you had that neighbor. I had the same experience in Indiana. I was driving on a country road and hit a drift which buried the car. I could not open the doors. After about an hour, I heard digging noises and my neighbor dug in the drift until he cleared a place to open the door. He and I ran to his house and the wind chill was around 30 below. I was heading for work and had on Italian oxfords, a suit, and a top coat. No hat or gloves. He was all decked out. It took about an hour to thaw me out. He told me he saw me go past his place and knew I was going to die if he didn’t help. The car was in the snowbank a week. The neighbor loaned me some warm winter wear and gave me a snowmobile ride home. Never forget it

How about Snow Drifts and Sand Dunes for a book title? Survival techniques learned in the frigid midwest help our intrepid detective solve a crime with international implications on the beaches of South Texas… Have at it!